London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur faceoff today at the Emirates Stadium with both points and pride at stake. In recent times, Tottenham have usurped the Gunners as the preeminent team in North London, reaching the Champions League final last season and regularly finishing top four place in the league.
On the other hand, Arsenal have struggled to keep up with the pacesetters in the league with last week’s 3-1 loss to Liverpool showing just how far they still have to go to compete with the best.
Today however presents Arsenal another chance to show their pedigree and top four potential with last year’s affair at the Emirates serving as motivation.
Arsenal thrashed Spurs 4-2 on the back of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace. There were plenty of highlights from the match – Auba’s curling strike from the edge of the 18, Laca’s game-winning deflected effort while falling – but the most enjoyable came late on when Lucas Torreira lashed the ball into the back of the net for his first in an Arsenal jersey.
The new season for Tottenham has been defined by highs and lows. To their credit, Spurs’ had a very successful transfer window which saw them bring in some elite players in the midfield in Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso while also prying the promising young Ryan Sessegnon away from Fulham.
Despite the improvements, Mauricio Pochettino’s squad has continued a puzzling run of performances in the league that began late last season.
After winning their home opener against Aston Villa, they drew Manchester City and then lost at home to Newcastle. Their four points has them three behind Arsenal and sitting 7th in the (albeit very early) table. Regardless, you can be assured that all of that will be thrown out of the window when Spurs take the short trip to the Emirates.
Arsenal have a very real possibility of distancing themselves from the rest of the other teams chasing top four spots, and a victory today would put them five points clear of their rivals and in control of third place. A draw or a loss would further stoke the flames of discontent that had been only recently somewhat pacified.
Tottenham may find inspiration in north London where they could not last week to Newcastle. Mesut Özil is available but it would be a surprise if he features in the starting lineup considering the likelihood of Unai Emery selecting Nicolas Pépé, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in an attempt to overpower Spurs.
